Father,
Through the death and resurrection of Your eternal Son,
heaven has been opened to Your human children. No longer are we bound in
slavery to sin and death. Your Son's physical resurrection from death is a
sign and a promise of the gift of eternal life that is now available for all
who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. As those of us here on earth
continue to battle against the enemy of our salvation, continue to strengthen
and unite us, Father, through the spiritual gifts of faith, the Sacraments,
good works and our prayers. Most Holy Spirit, come and guide us in our last
lesson as we study the Passion and Resurrection of the Christ and His
commission to all Christians to spread the Gospel of salvation to the ends of
the earth. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.

+ + +

Now there was
about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he
was a doer of wonderful works; a teacher of such men as receive the truth with
pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the
Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the
principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him
at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third
day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not
extinct at this day.Flavius Josephus
(37-100 AD) Antiquities of the Jews, 18.3.3

"When Jesus had
cried out with a loud voice, he yielded up the spirit." This refers to what he
had earlier said: "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take
it again," and "I lay it down of myself." So for this cause he cried with the
voice, that it might be shown that the act is done by his own power.St. John Chrysostom
(344/354-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 88.1

Friday, Nisan the
15th

The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, reluctantly condemned
Jesus to death on the charge of sedition/treason against the Roman state. Jesus
is not condemned for the Sanhedrin's charge of blasphemy but for the political
crime of posing a threat to Caesar's sovereignty in claiming to be the "King of
the Jews." Most of what we know about Pontius Pilate from the writings of the
Jewish historians Josephus [37-100AD] and Philo of Alexandria [d.50AD] is not
very favorable. They portray him as autocratic, excessive and dishonest, but
he must have been an able and effective governor because he held his post for
ten years, the second longest ruling Roman governor of Judea. Josephus confirms the
slaughter of the Galileans during his rule that is mentioned in Luke 13:1, and
the Roman historian Tacitus records Pilate's action against Jesus in Annals
XV, 44 where he reports: The Christ had been executed in Tiberius' reign
by the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. Of all the existing
documentation on Pilate, the Bible gives the most favorable account of this
man. In fact, in the writings of the early Church Fathers, he is regarded as a
man who cooperated in God plan of salvation. After condemning Jesus to death,
Pilate handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers in charge of the crucifixion
detail.

Matthew 27:27-31 ~ The Condemned Christ is Mocked by
Roman Soldiers27 Then the soldiers
of the governor took Jesus inside the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort
around him. 28 They stripped off
his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. 29 Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it
on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they
mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on
the head. 31 And when they had
mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and
led him off to crucify him.

The Praetorium was a Latin term that originally designated
the praetor's (officer who administered justice) tent in a military camp but
later came to designate the residence of a Roman official where he heard civil
cases. The term could also refer either to a select military unity of Roman
soldiers that served as personal body guards for the emperor (Praetorian
Guard), or other officials, or simply to the military personnel attached to a
Praetorium of the official. Verse 27 suggests that the soldiers attached to
Pilate's household took Jesus into the judgment hall associated with Pilate's
residence in Jerusalem.

... and gathered the whole cohort around him. A cohort
was composed of 600 men and formed a tenth part of a legion. Matthew may not
intend to suggest 600 men gathered around Jesus but rather that all those men
of a particular cohort who were present in the hall gathered around Jesus to
torment Him.

Question: What three objects did the soldiers place
on Jesus?Answer: A scarlet military cloak, a crown made of
thorns, and a reed.

Matthew describes the cloak was the typical scarlet cloak of
a soldier, but Mark records that they dressed Jesus in a purple cloak. Purple
was the most expensive die and was the color of royalty; however, the dye used
for the Roman soldier's cloak was a reddish-purple/scarlet color. It is
difficult to see where common soldiers would have come by expensive purple
cloth, but the intention was to dress Jesus like a king since He was charged
with sedition against the empire by claiming to be "King of the Jews" (Mt 27:29
and 37). The thorn spikes in the crown of thorns they made for Jesus was
probably intended to represent the radiant crown of the emperor depicted on
Roman coins, and the reed was probably intended to represent a king's scepter,
a sign of royal authority.

Question: What is ironic about the soldiers' cruel
treatment in dressing Jesus this way and greeting Him "Hail, King of the Jews,"
the traditional greeting for the Roman Emperor?Answer: Jesus really is the king of the Jews and in
fact, the King of kings.

Matthew 27:31 ~ And when they had mocked him, they
stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to
crucify him.

Question: The soldiers' mistreatment of Jesus,
including mocking Him, spitting in His face and striking him, recalls what
parts of the prophecy of God's suffering servant by the 8th century
BC prophet Isaiah? See Is 53:1-12 and the chart Isaiah's Suffering Servant fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.Answer: The entire passage describes Christ's
Passion, but two verses that are especially close to the suffering Jesus
endured at the hands of the Roman guards are verses 3 and 7-8: He was
spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of
those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem (Is 53:3) and Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his
mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was
silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away ... (Is 53:7-8a).

Question: What prophecy that Jesus made concerning His
Passion is fulfilled in His trial by the Roman governor and His crucifixion?
What is significant concerning the fulfillment of this prophecy? See Mt 20:17-19.Answer: In the third prophecy of His Passion, Jesus
told the Apostles that the chief priests and scribes would condemn him to death
and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified. The
fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy once again demonstrates that He is fully in
control of His destiny.

The CrucifixionIt was the third
hour [9 AM] when they crucified him.Mark 15:25

Matthew 27:32-44 ~ Jesus is Crucified32 As they were
going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service
to carry his cross. 33 And when
they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), 34 they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with
gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. 35 After they had crucified him, they divided
his garments by casting lots; 36 then
they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And they placed over his head the written charge against him:
This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. 38 Two
revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his
left. 39 Those passing by reviled
him, shaking their heads 40 and saying,
"You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself,
if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!" 41 Likewise the chief priests with the scribes
and elders mocked him and said, 42 "He
saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if
he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" The revolutionaries who
were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way.

Those condemned to crucifixion were usually tied to a wooden
crossbeam and were forced to carry it to the site of the execution. Perhaps
Jesus had become too weak from His scourging to carry His crossbeam the entire
distance. The Roman soldiers impressed a man who was probably a Jewish pilgrim
into public service, a man named Simon who was a native of the city of Cyrene. The city of Cyrene was in North Africa and is located today in the modern state
of Libya. The Gospels of Mark and Luke include the information that Simon
lived in the "countryside," presumably of Judea (Mk 15:21; Lk 23:26).(1) Luke relates that a large crowd of people
followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented Him, and that two
criminals who were also condemned to death were led away with Him.

Matthew 27:33-34 ~ And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall.
But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink.

In the Temple that morning, the unblemished, yearling male Tamid
lamb was led from the chamber called the Lamb Office to the site of its
execution near the altar: They gave the lamb which was to be the daily whole
offering a drink from a golden cup (Mishnah: Tamid, 3:4B).

Golgotha is the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic name of
the crucifixion site that was called gulgulta, meaning "skull." The
identification of the crucifixion site as Golgotha is found in Mathew 27:33,
Mark 15:22 and in John 19:17. St. Luke gives the name of the site as Kranion
(Lk 23:33), the Greek word for "skull." The name Calvary comes to
us from the Rheims New Testament translation of the Latin Vulgate, calvariae
locus, which isthe Latin translation of the Greek kraniou topos,
"place of the skull;" in Latin the word for skull is calvaria. Matthew 27:32 and Mark 15:21 explicitly state the site lies outside the city; the
Gospel of John says it is near the city (19:20). We know it was close enough
to the city for the on-lookers to read the trilingual plaque that Pilate
ordered to be place on Jesus' cross, probably as they looked down upon scene of
Jesus' crucifixion from the top of the city wall.(2)
Excavations beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulcher revealed burials that were
centuries older than when Jesus was crucified and suggest that the name "skull"
was given to the site because it was an ancient graveyard.(3)

... they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But
when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. Wine mixed with myrrh was
prepared to dull the prisoner's pain (Mk 15:23). The historicity of the Gospel
account is confirmed by the 1st AD century historian Josephus who
recorded that wealthy women of Jerusalem provided wine mixed with narcotics for
those destined for crucifixion. But according to Matthew, the Roman soldiers
continued their abuse of Jesus by mixing gall into the treated wine. Gall is a
bitter discharge from the liver or the gall bladder, but it can also refer to
any bitter substance or even poison. That Matthew includes this information
may be an allusion to the fulfillment of Psalms 69:22: Instead they put gall
in my food; for my thirst they gave me vinegar. "Vinegar" was cheap red
wine. Jesus will be given cheap wine/vinegar to drink just before He
surrenders His life (Mt 27:48; Jn 19:28-30).

Question: Why does Jesus taste the wine when He has
sworn at the Last Supper that He will not drink the fruit of the vine until He
comes into His kingdom (Mt 26:29; Lk 22:18)?Answer: He only tastes the wine but does not drink
it. This may be to further connect Jesus' perfect sacrifice to the sacrifice
of the morning Tamid at the Temple that was given a drink prior to sacrifice.
The Tamid was a sacrifice that had for centuries prefigured the sacrifice of
Jesus as the true Tamid "standing" (as in continual) Lamb of sacrifice.

St. Mark is the only Gospel writer who records the time
Jesus was placed on the Cross: It was the third hour [9 AM] when they
crucified him (Mk 15:25). The "third hour" Jewish time was also when the
first Tamid lamb was sacrificed in the Temple and its blood splashed against
the sacrificial altar as the Levites blew the silver trumpets and the Temple
doors were opened for the morning worship service (Edersheim, The Temple:
Its Ministry and Services, page 108). That morning was a compulsory Sacred
Assembly and all religious Jews would be in attendance at the Temple, this
includes the majority of Jesus' supporters who had no idea concerning the
events unfolding at Golgotha.

As Jesus was suffering on the cross, the morning liturgy of
the Tamid lamb continued in the Temple. The sacrifices for the first Sacred
Assembly of Unleavened Bread and the individual hagigah peace offerings
could not be brought forward until after the offering of the Tamid lamb on the
altar fire along with people's offering of fine flour mixed with incense, the
priestly wafer of unleavened bread and a libation of red wine. The priestly
unleavened bread wafer always accompanied the sacrifice of the Tamid lambs: This
is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall present to the LORD ... one tenth
of an ephah of fine flour for the established cereal offering, half in the
morning and half in the evening [afternoon]. It shall be well kneaded
and fried in oil on a griddle when your bring it in. Having broken the
offering into pieces, you shall present it as a sweet-smelling oblation to the
LORD (Lev 6:12-14).

Question: The offering of the Tamid lamb included a
wafer of unleavened bread (Lev 6:12-14) and red wine (Ex 29:40-42; Sir 51:14-15). The officiating priest elevated the wafer above the altar and broke
it before laying it on the altar fire. Is that Old Covenant ritual reminiscent
of any New Covenant ritual you have witnessed? What happens in the New
Covenant ritual?Answer: In the sacrifice of the Mass, unleavened
bread and wine are offered on the altar, but instead of being destroyed with
the victim of sacrifice on the altar fire, the bread, elevated and broken
before the altar, and wine are transformed into the victim of sacrifice. Jesus
Christ becomes present on the altar.

Matthew 27:35-36 ~ After they had crucified him, they
divided his garments by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over
him there. It was the custom for the soldiers overseeing executions to
divide the possession of the condemned. The Roman soldiers "kept watch" over
Jesus and the other two men in order to prevent any attempt to rescue them.

Psalms 22, written by King David in the 10th
century BC, is a description of David's sufferings but also a prediction of Jesus'
crucifixion long before the Persians ever invented crucifixion as a form of
capital punishment. Included in the psalms is the prediction that lots would
be casted for Jesus garments, an event that was not part of David's history. In
verses 17-19 David wrote: Many dogs surround me; a pack of evildoers closes
in on me. So wasted are my hands and feet that I can count all my bones. They
stare at me and gloat; they divide my garments among them; for my clothing
they cast lots.

Question: In the Gospel of John a detail is given
about one of Jesus' garments that was not included in the other Gospels. What
was unique about Jesus' tunic and what is significant about the action of the
Roman soldiers in regards to it? This is the same tunic Jesus wore to the Last
Supper. See Jn 19:23-24.Answer: Jesus' tunic was seamlessly woven from one
piece of cloth. It was obviously expensive so the soldiers cast lots to see
which one would possess it. The Gospel of John says this was to fulfill what
was written in Psalms 22:19.

Jesus' seamless tunic recalls one of the vestments of the anointed
High Priest of Israel (Ex 28:1-5; Lev 21:10) which, according to Josephus, was
seamless (Antiquities of the Jews, 3.7.4 [161]; The Jewish Wars, 5.5.7
[231]) and which was only worn during a liturgical service in the Temple (Ez 42:14).

Question: Why is it significant that Jesus wore the
seamless garment of a high priest at both the Last Supper and His crucifixion?Answer: That Jesus wore this high priestly garment at
the Last Supper implies that it was a liturgical worship service at which Jesus
officiated as the New Covenant High Priest of the sacred meal. That He wore
this garment at His crucifixion implies that Jesus was acting as the New
Covenant High Priest officiating at the offering of His sacrifice on the altar
of the Cross for the atonement sanctification of all people.

You will recall that at the Last Supper the disciples washed
their hands (part of the ritual of the meal) and feet (washed by Jesus in Jn 13:5). Josephus records that before performing their ministerial duties, priests
washed both their hands and feet (Antiquities of the Jews, 3.6.2 [114]),
information that adds another liturgical element to the events of the Last
Supper.

Matthew 27: 37 ~ And they placed over his head the
written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. It was a
common Roman practice to post the crime for which a person was being executed
and the name of the condemned man. Such a plaque was called in Greek a titulus.
Pilate himself ordered the wording of the sign, much to the displeasure of the
chief priests.(4)

Question: What additional information is included in
the Gospel of John concerning Jesus' titulus? See Jn 19:20.Answer: The inscription was written in Hebrew, Latin
and Greek and could be easily read by the crowds.

Matthew 27:38 ~ Two revolutionaries were crucified with
him, one on his right and the other on his left.

All four Gospels agree that Jesus was crucified between two
criminals (also see Mk 15:27; Lk 23:33; Jn 19:18). As Jesus is situated
between two men on an elevation with His arms outstretched on the Cross,
commanding the climatic battle between good and evil, the scene is reminiscent
of Moses standing on a hill with outstretched arms between Aaron and Hur in the
Israelite's battle with the wicked Amalekites (Ex 17:8-13; CCC 440). However,
unlike the temporal consequences of Moses' battle, the outcome of Jesus' battle
has cosmic and eternal implications.

Matthew 27:39-43 ~ Those
passing by reviled him, shaking their heads 40
and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three
days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the
cross!" 41 Likewise the chief
priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, 42 "He saved others; he cannot save himself. So
he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will
believe in him. 43 He trusted in
God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, I am the Son of
God.'"

These actions by Jesus' tormentors are also described in
Psalms 22. In verses 8-9 David wrote: All who see me mock me; they curl
their lips and jeer; they shake their heads at me. "You relied on the LORD "let
him deliver you if he loves you, let him rescue you."

The scene in Matthew 27:39-42 and the enmity against Jesus
by the chief priests, Pharisees and elders also recalls the condemnation of the
righteous by the wicked described in Wisdom 2:12-24: Let us beset the just
one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings,
reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of
our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child
of the LORD ... He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his
Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen
to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver
him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to
the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us
condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take
care of him" (Wis 2:12-13, 16a-20).

Question: What kinds of taunts or challenges do the
people, the chief priests, scribes and elders make?

Answer:

"Save yourself if you are the Son of God and come down
from the cross."

"He saved others; he cannot save himself."

"Come down from the cross and we will believe ..."

"He trusted in God let him deliver him ..."

St. Luke records that Jesus prayed for His persecutors from
the Cross, saying Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34). This is the first of seven statements Jesus will make from the altar
of the Cross. Two of His statements are quotations from the Psalms of David.

*Jesus has alluded to Psalms 22 in Mt 27:35, 39 and 43.
Matthew records the Hebrew as it would have been written in the Hebrew scroll
of Psalms 22, while Mark records Jesus' actual Aramaic statement.+It is hard
to know which of these two statements are His last words from the Cross were.

Question: The first statement is a petition on behalf
of those who are persecuting Him. What teaching that Jesus gave in His Sermon
on the Mount does this petition recall? See Mt 5:43-48.Answer: He taught that His followers are to imitate
the example of their heavenly Father in freely giving their love and
forgiveness, even to enemies.

Matthew 27:43b ~ The revolutionaries who were crucified
with him also kept abusing him in the same way.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all mention the two
men crucified on either side of Jesus (Mk 15:27, 32; Lk 23:33, 39-43), but Luke
records the change of heart of the man to the right of Jesus (Lk 23:39-43).

Question: What is Jesus' response to the man's
righteous deed in defending Jesus against the verbal abuse of the crucified man
to Jesus' left and his profession of faith in Jesus by asking to be remembered
when Jesus comes into His kingdom? See Lk 23:39-43.Answer: His good work in defending Jesus and his
profession of faith in Jesus by his petition "Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom" is rewarded by Jesus' promise of eternal salvation when
Jesus tells the man "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

This is Jesus' second statement from the altar of the
Cross. The Gospel of John also records Jesus' words to His mother and the
beloved disciple (believed to be St. John Zebedee) in which He makes John
responsible for the care of His mother. This would have been unthinkable if
Mary had other sons and daughters and supports 2,000 years of Church teaching
and tradition that Jesus was Mary's only child (CCC 499-500). Jesus' exchange
with His mother and the beloved disciple is Jesus' third statement from the
Cross.

Matthew 27:45-56 ~ The Death of the Redeemer-Messiah45 From noon [the
sixth hour] onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the
afternoon [the ninth hour]. 46 And
about three o'clock [the ninth hour] Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, eli,
lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken
[abandoned] me?" 47 Some of the
bystanders who heard it said, "This one is calling for Elijah." 48 Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge;
he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. 49 But the rest said, "Wait, let us see if
Elijah comes to save him." 50 But
Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was
torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, 52 tombs were opened, and the bodies of many
saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53
And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered
the holy city and appeared to many. 54 The
centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly
when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, "Truly,
this was the Son of God!" 55 There
were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.
56 Among them
were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of
the sons of Zebedee.

While the Gospels of Matthew and Mark mention the total darkness
that began at noon, St. Luke identifies the darkness as a total eclipse of the
sun: It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three
in the afternoon [the third hour] because of an eclipse of the sun... (Lk 23:44-45). This is a miracle that cannot be explained away by some
coincidence of nature.The liturgical calendar was a lunar calendar and
the day of Jesus' crucifixion on the 15th of Nisan was during a full
moon cycle: And this feast is begun on the fifteenth day of the month in the
middle of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light, in
consequence of the providence of God taking care that there shall be no
darkness on that day [Philo, Special Laws II, 155]. Total or partial
eclipses do not occur during full moon cycles, and they only last for minutes
not for hours. Both Christian and non-Christian writers recorded the phenomena.(5)

This cosmic event and its aftermath fulfill the prophecy of
the 8th century BC prophet Amos: On that day, says the Lord GOD, I
will make the sun set at midday and cover the earth with darkness in broad
daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into
lamentations. I will cover the loins of all with sackcloth and make every head
bald. I will make them mourn as for an only son, and bring their day to bitter
end (Am 8:9-10; emphasis added). Wearing sackcloth and shaving one's head
is a sign of affliction and mourning in the ancient Middle East (Is 15:2; Jer 7:29; Mic 1:16).

As Jesus suffered on the altar of the cross, the Temple was in darkness, but the liturgical ceremony and sacrifices for first day of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread continued by the light of the altar fire. At noon
the second lamb of the Tamid sacrifice was led out and tired near the altar
before it was inspected one last time by the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas.
Declared "without fault," it was given a last drink (Mishnah: Tamid,
3:4B; 4:1); this may be the point at which Jesus was offered a second drink (Lk 23:35-36); the first offer was before He was crucified (Mt 27:34-35; Mk 15:23-24). You may recall that Pilate declared Jesus "without fault" (Jn 18:38;
19:4, 6).

Jesus last four statements come very close together. At is
about three in the afternoon. This is Jesus' fourth statement from the
Cross. St. Matthew records Jesus' statement in Hebrew either to draw His
Jewish audience to the passage in the Hebrew Scriptures of Psalm 22:1a or
because this is one element that has been retained from his Gospel that was
originally written in Hebrew (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.1.1). St. Mark records Jesus' statement in the Aramaic that Jesus' would have spoken aloud (Mk 15:34).

Psalms 22:1a reads: My God, my God, why have you
abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish? Jesus'
quote from this Psalms is not as some have wrongly interpreted a cry of utter
despair and hopelessness; far from it. If one reads the entire Psalms 22,
David's cry of distress ends in a shout of joy and his confidence that God has
heard his prayer, will rescue him from his enemies, and future generations will
be told of his deliverance. Such psalms are called toda psalms (the
Hebrew word toda means "thanks" or "thanksgiving"). Again, it is also
important to note that this psalms, attributed to David and therefore written
sometime in the early 10th century BC, is a description of a
crucifixion centuries before the Persians invented this form of capital
punishment.

Matthew 27:47-49 ~Some
of the bystanders who heard it said, "This one is calling for Elijah." 48 Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge;
he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. 49 But the rest said, "Wait, let us see if
Elijah comes to save him."

The crowd mistook the words "Eloi," "my God," for the name
of the prophet Elijah who they evidently recall was prophesied to be a precursor
to the coming of the Messiah (Mal 3:23/4:5) and whose mission they may have
confused with the passage in Malachi 3:1 that speaks of God's messenger who
will "prepare the way" by suddenly coming to the Temple "which Jesus did in His
Temple cleansings.

The Gospel of John
records that it is at this time that Jesus utters the words "I thirst" (Jn 19:28); this is Jesus' fifth statement from the Cross.John 19:29-30 ~ A
jar full of sour wine stood there; so putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus
had taken the wine he said, It is fulfilled [or finished = literally in the Greek text, "Teltelestai"];
and bowing his head he gave up his spirit (emphasis added). "It is
fulfilled/finished" is Jesus sixth statement from the Cross.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John record that Jesus was
given a final drink of wine. However, only the Gospel of John mentions that
Jesus requested the drink, saying "I thirst," that the Roman soldier extended
the drink of wine to Him on a hyssop branch, and that Jesus spoke the words "It
is fulfilled" "the same last words as those of the host of the Passover meal
when the 4th Cup, the Cup of Acceptance, has been consumed.

In the first Passover event, hyssop was used to smear the
blood of the sacrificial victim from the threshold (where the blood was
poured out) to the lintel and the door posts of the doorway of the
Israelite houses, making a cross-like sign under which those inside eating
the sacred meal were saved from death (Ex 12:22).

In the ratification of the Sinai Covenant, Moses, the
mediator between God and the people, symbolically united them by using a
hyssop branch to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the altar (representing
Yahweh) and then on the people; it was a symbolic act that created one
family united in the "blood of the covenant" (Ex 24:8; Heb 9:18-20).
These are the same words Jesus used in the Last Supper when He offered
those assembled His Precious Blood (Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20).

Hyssop was used in the rituals of purification. The passage
in Numbers 19 gave instruction in the use of hyssop for ritual
purification for those who were contaminated by a dead body. Such ritual
contamination left the covenant member literally "dead" to their community
until they could be purified on the third and seventh days (a double
resurrection)* with hyssop and holy water. The blood of Jesus has
purified us and saved us from spiritual death and has given physical death
no power over us. Jesus' Precious Blood is the cleansing agent, which the
hyssop and holy water of the Old Covenant symbolized. It is His Precious
Blood that purifies us from all sins: Purify me with hyssop till I am
clean, wash me whiter than snow (Ps 51:7).

*The Fathers of the Church spoke of the Christian's double
resurrection in baptism (spiritually raised to new life) and in the final
bodily Resurrection at the time of Christ's Second Advent.

In the climax of Jesus' crucifixion, the hyssop branch was
symbolically used in the ratification of the New Covenant in the blood
sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. It is His Precious Blood that transforms and
unites the New Covenant people into God's Holy Covenant family - the Universal Church!

John 19:30 ~ After Jesus had taken the wine he said, It
is fulfilled.'

In the prescribed ritual of the sacred meal of the Passover
victim, there was a 4th ritual cup that closed the meal and sealed
the covenant for another year. This cup was called the Cup of Acceptance. It
was after consuming this final communal cup that the host of the Passover
supper would cry out: "It is fulfilled" "Teltelestai" in Greek. Since Jesus
made an oath that He would not drink wine until He came into His kingdom (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:17), He could not have taken the 4th cup at
the Last Supper. Therefore, He could not have officially, according to custom,
closed the Passover sacrificial meal in the Upper Room. The Gospel of John
records Jesus' words in Greek and not in Aramaic, perhaps to draw our attention
to the Greek which was also an accounting term that was written over the ledger
recording a debt, meaning the debt was paid in full.

Question: Why did Jesus ask for a drink and why did
He drink the wine offered to Him when He swore He would not drink wine again
until He came into His kingdom? What condition did Jesus make for drinking
wine again? See Mt 5:17-18; 26:28; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:17. Answer: The condition for which He swore not to
drink wine had passed. He prepared to give up His life; He was coming into His
Kingdom. All "these things" that had to take place before the Sinai Covenant
was fulfilled had now taken place (Mt 5:17-18).

Question: What was fulfilled and what is the
connection to the "cup" Jesus spoke of in His prayer to the Father at
Gethsemane (Mt 26:39, 42; Jn 18:11), the cup He asked John and James Zebedee if
they could drink (Mt 20:22-23), and the cup in the symbolic images of the
prophets (see the chart)?Answer:

The wine Jesus drank from the hyssop branch is both the
"cup of suffering" and the "cup of God's wrath" that He accepted on behalf
of a sinful mankind in His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. It was a
cup of suffering that He accepted in obedience to the Father, and as He
drank the last drop of that suffering, He was prepared to give up His
spirit.

Like the cup Jesus told James and John they were to drink,
it is the cup of suffering that all disciples of Jesus are asked to accept
as they take up their individual crosses to advance the Kingdom of Christ's Church.

On the cross when Jesus drank the wine and said the last
words of the Passover meal, "It is fulfilled," He took the 4th
Cup of Acceptance. It was an act that symbolized the "cup" that sealed
the covenant with God through the new sacred meal of the Eucharist, and it
is the cup that symbolized full restoration of fellowship with God in the
images of the prophets, especially Zechariah 9:15-17.

Mathew 27:50 ~But
Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit.

When Jesus willing gave up His life, He breathed out His
life force upon the face of the earth.

St. Luke gives us the last words of Jesus from the Cross; it
is His seventh statement: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit
(Lk 23:46). His statement is a quote from Psalms 31:5/6: Into your
hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, LORD, faithful God. It is
another toda psalm that begins as a prayer of distress in which the
psalmist cries out: I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead; I am like a
shattered dish. I hear the whispers of the crowd; terrors are all around me.
They conspire against me; they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands; rescue me from my
enemies, from the hands of my pursuers (Ps 31:13-16). But the cry becomes a
prayer of thanksgiving and praise for God's mercy and loving care in the
psalmist's hour of need and a message of hope to the faithful: Yet you heard
my plea, when I cried out to you. Love the LORD, all you faithful. The LORD
protects the loyal, but repays the arrogant in full. Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the LORD" (Ps 31:23b-25).

Question: Why did Jesus shout out this quote from Psalms
31 in His last words from the Cross?Answer: His shout demonstrates that by the force of
His will He gave up His Spirit. Jesus' self-sacrificial death and willingness
to give up His Spirit wasn't a defeat - it was a victory that he will share with
the faithful!

In the offering up of His perfect sacrifice, Jesus came into
His Kingdom. What He spoke of figuratively in His agony in the garden of Gethsemane was now symbolically fulfilled as He drank the wine of God's wrath as
well as the wine of the 4th Cup of the ritual meal that He did not
pass at the Last Supper. All was "fulfilled," as He promised in Matthew 5:17-18 and announced in John 19:28. Therefore, He accepted on behalf of all
people the cup that sealed the covenant with God in a New and eternal covenant
which offered mankind the purification of sins through the blood sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29). Through His Passion the debt of sin is paid in full and the New
Covenant is inaugurated in the sacrificial blood of the Christ which will
become the Eucharistic cup of Acceptance for the restoration of fellowship with
God in the New Covenant Church. He willingly gave up His spirit for the sake all
mankind and for the Kingdom of Heaven on earth that was to be the vehicle to
lead all members of the human family to salvation.

The Synoptic Gospel accounts agree that it was the ninth
hour Jewish time, or three in the afternoon Roman and modern time, that Jesus
died (see the chart on the Tamid sacrifice and the Passion of Christ). At the Temple it is the same hour that the second Tamid lamb was sacrificed (Josephus, Antiquities
of the Jews, 14.4.3[65]). Jesus' death on the altar of the Cross, offering
up to the Father in a single perfect sacrifice His humanity and His divinity,
has been uniquely prefigured in the centuries old Tamid ("standing")
sacrifice "the single sacrifice of two unblemished male lambs.

More evidence to Jesus' unique link to the Tamid is found in
the Book of Revelation where St. John describes the glorified Messiah in His
priestly role before the throne of God when the elders announced that the "Lion
of the tribe of Judah," the "root of David" has triumphed: Then I saw, in
the middle of the throne with its four living creatures and the circle of
elders, a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed (Rev 5:5-6, RSV St. Joseph's edition; emphasis added). The Greek words for Christ
the Lamb in Revelation 5:6 are Arnion Hestekos(6), literally "Lamb
Standing," using an archaic Greek term for "lamb" (arnion). The
only place the archaic term arnion is found in the Gospels is in John 21:15 where it is used for the faithful New Covenant people of God when after
the Resurrection Jesus commands St. Peter to "Feed my lambs [arnion],"
and an amazing twenty-nine other times in the book of Revelation where arnion
is used to identify Jesus in His glorified state as "the Lamb."

John's "standing" Lamb of sacrifice in Revelation 5:6 is an
odd way to express Christ's presence in the heavenly Sanctuary. Slain lambs
don't stand. But if John is using Greek to express a Hebrew concept, then what
he is describing is a reference to Jesus as the Tamid, the "standing" Lamb of
the Old Covenant perpetual daily sacrifice that prefigured the perpetual
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. While all the animal sacrifices of the Old
Covenant were prefigured in Jesus' one sacrifice, in St. John's description of
Jesus offering His perfect sacrifice before the throne of God in the book of
Revelation, Jesus is uniquely identified as the unblemished "Lamb Standing," in
Greek the Arnion Hestekos.

The connection between the unusual and archaic form of the
Greek word arnion

for "lamb" in John 21:15, used for believers in Jesus Christ
and its use twenty-nine times in the book of Revelation for Jesus Himself may
be that in St. John's interpretation of Jesus' resurrected and glorified state
that He is no longer the amnos (the typical word for lamb in the Gospel
of John except for 21:15) but is now the glorified Arnion (Lamb) of God
who is One with the arnion of His Church (Jn 21:15; 1 Cor 12:20-27).
But there may also be a more profound connection to the Greek words in
Revelation 5:6 which identify Jesus as the Arnion Hestekos, the "Lamb
Standing as though it had been slain" since this "Lamb Standing" takes center
stage in the divine Heavenly Liturgy. The key to this profound mystery is the
lamb who took center stage in the Old Covenant Temple liturgy, the "standing
lamb" of the Tamid.

Unlike the Hebrew word for "standing," which like our
English word has the double meaning of "standing" as in "upright" and standing
as in "continual" or "perpetual," the Greek word hestekos only means
"standing" in the literal sense. Bible scholar Philip Carrington suggests that
St. John is writing in Greek but is thinking in Hebrew, using hestekos
as, he writes, "a rough Greek translation of the Hebrew word tamid that means
standing' as in continual/perpetual,' and refers to the daily whole burnt offering
in the Temple." Carrington suggests
since there was no Greek word to adequately convey the meaning of this unique
sacrifice that Arnion Hestekos (the "Lamb Standing" in Rev 5:6) became
the technical term of the Jewish Temple hierarchy for the Tamid lamb of the
daily sacrifice. It is likely that this was also the Greek term used in the
catechesis of Greek speaking Gentiles who sought instruction in understanding
the obligations of the Sinai Covenant.

According to rabbinic teaching, the Tamid was destined to
end with the coming of the Messiah at which time the only sacrifice to continue
in the Messianic era would be the Todah, , the peace offering of
"thanksgiving," the "Eucharistia" (Levine, JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus, page
43; Joseph Ratzinger, Feast of Faith, Ignatius Press, San Francisco,
1986, page 58). This prediction has literally been fulfilled in the
"Thanksgiving" sacrifice of the Eucharist. However, in the heavenly liturgy,
Jesus continues to offer Himself as the true Tamid, the "Lamb Standing."

Like all previous Old Covenant high priests, in His role as
the divine High Priest Jesus has a sacrifice that He must offer: He has
taken his seat at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens, and
he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true tent which the Lord, and
not any man, set up. Every high priest is constituted to offer gifts and
sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer (Heb 8:1-3;
emphasis added). The sacrifice that Jesus offers is the sacrifice of Himself.
Jesus Christ is the true Tamid of the heavenly Sanctuary which the earthly
Tamid and the earthly Temple only prefigured (Col 2:16-17).

Christ's Passion unfolded in the same time frame as the
Tamid: at dawn when the Tamid was brought out to the altar He was condemned (Mt 26:66-75); at nine in the morning when the first Tamid lamb was sacrificed
Jesus was sacrificed (Mk 5:25-6); at noon when the second Tamid lamb was led
out to the altar the sun turned dark (Mt 27:45); and at three in the afternoon
as the second Tamid lamb was sacrificed and the gates of the Temple opened for
the afternoon worship service, Jesus died on the altar of the Cross (Mt 27:46-50) as the gates of heaven were opened to begin receive the righteous
dead. In the Old Covenant, the Tamid was the symbol of God's presence with Israel (Ex 29:38-46; Dan 8:11-14). In the New Covenant it is Jesus the Lamb who is the
Emmanuel, the "God with us" perpetually to the end of time (Is 7:14; Mt 28:20).

Passion of the
Christ

Tamid Sacrifice

Peter denies Christ
a third time at the time of the "cockcrow" at 3 AM.

The chief priests
are awakened to begin their duties for the morning sacrifice at the signal of
the "cockcrow."

Jesus is condemned
by the Sanhedrin and taken to Pilate at dawn (sixth hour Roman time in Jn 19:14 and 6 AM our time).

The first Tamid
lamb is led to the altar at dawn.

Pilate pronounces
Jesus "without fault."

The chief priest or
his representative announces the morning Tamid "without fault."

See the charts on the Tamid sacrifice and the division of
day and night hours in the handouts.

Matthew 27:51 ~ And
behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The
earth quaked, rocks were split...

There were two "veils" in the Temple. One covered the
entrance to the Temple's Holy Place and the second inner veil was the covering
across the entrance to the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was where God's
presence resided in the midst of His people and a sacred space in which the
heavenly and earthly Sanctuaries were linked (Ex 25:8, 40; Ex 26:31-35; 35:12;
39:34; Lev 24:3; 2 Chr 3:14). Matthew is referring to the inner veil. The
word "veil" gives the wrong impression of this barrier. It was a textile that
hung from a height of about 30 feet and was the thickness of a man's hand.
Since the sin of the Golden Calf (Ex 32) only the anointed High Priest had
access to the Holy of Holies once a year on the feast of Atonement/Yom Kippur
(Lev 16:1-18). At the ninth hour (three in the afternoon), the assigned chief
priests had entered the Holy Place as the afternoon Tamid lamb was slain to
trim the wicks of the golden Menorah and to cleanse the ashes from the golden
Altar of Incense that stood in front of the veil that shielded the Holy of
Holies in preparation for the burning of incense at the conclusion of the
afternoon liturgy. Imagine the shock of the chief priests as the earth shook
and the veil was torn as though by invisible hands from the top to the bottom.

Question: What does the supernatural act of the
ripping of the covering that barred the way to the presence of God in the Holy
of Holies symbolize? See Gen 3:15; CCC 536 and 1026.Answer: The ripping of the veil symbolized the
fact that God had accepted His Son's perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind
and was giving everyone access to the most holy place of all "the heavenly
Sanctuary that had been barred to man since the Fall of Adam. Christ conquered
the serpent and became the promised Mediator between man and God (Gen 3:15).

Question: What sign should all faithful Jews have
read in the tearing of the veil and the earthquake? See Ps 68:9; 77:19; Mt 24:7-8.Answer: These were the signs the prophets predicted
in the coming of the Final Age of Man.

Matthew 27:52-53 ~ 52 tombs
were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 And coming forth from their tombs after his
resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Only Matthew records the appearance of saints in association
with Jesus' resurrection. This event is the first expression of faith in the
liberation of the dead by Christ's descent into Sheol/Hades (see 1 Pt 3:19-20;
4:16). The Catechism teaches: Scripture calls the abode of the dead to
which the dead Christ went down, "hell" "Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek ... It
was precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom,
whom Christ the Lord deliver when he descended into hell." Jesus did not
descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation,
but to free the just who had gone before him (CCC 633).

We do not know what became of these saints. Jesus prohpesied this event in John 5:25-28. We do not know
if they continued to live out their lives on earth as a reminder of the
Resurrection and as an encouragement to the fledgling New Covenant Church like
the resurrected Lazarus (Jn 11:38-44; 12:1-2), or perhaps they ascend to the
Father with Jesus forty days later.(7)

Question: What would the resurrection of holy Jewish
saints have meant for the Jews who witnessed the event? See Is 26:19; Ez
chapter 37; Dan 12:2-3.Answer: For the Jews, the "resurrection of the
righteous ones" was a sign of the Last Age of Man and the coming of the
Messianic Era.

Question: What does this event mean for Christians?
See 1 Thes 4:16; Rev 21:1-4.Answer: For Christians, this event prefigures our
promise of a bodily resurrection when Christ returns. It is also evidence that
the effect of Jesus' resurrection changed the whole balance of nature. He came
to redeem mankind from the effects of sin but also to redeem the natural world
which had been wounded, like humanity, by the corrupting power of sin. That is
why, in His Second Advent, all of creation will be transformed into the new
heaven and new earth.

Matthew 27:54 ~ 54 The
centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly
when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, "Truly,
this was the Son of God!"

Question: What is significant about the declaration
of the Roman officer and his men?Answer: They are the first Gentiles to proclaim Jesus
"the Son of God." They may not have completely understood what they were
saying, but it will be a declaration that will be carried into the Gentile
nations of the earth.

Matthew 27:55-56 ~ There
were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. 56 Among them
were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of
the sons of Zebedee.

According to the Gospels, the only male disciple at the
Cross was the "beloved disciple" who the Church Fathers identify as St. John
Zebedee. Isn't it ironic that it is the women who stayed with Christ to the
end? They will be rewarded for their faithfulness.

Question: How many faithful women disciples can you
name who are mentioned in Scripture other than Jesus' Blessed Mother?Answer:

*her home was the place the Apostles regularly met in Jerusalem and may have been the site of the Upper Room.(8)

It is important to remember that the Jews collectively are
not responsible for Jesus' death. No human agency had power over Jesus. This
was God's plan.The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: The
Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus' death:The historical
complexity of Jesus' trial is apparent in the Gospel accounts. The personal
sin of the participants (Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate) is known to God alone.
Hence we cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole, despite the outcry of a manipulated crowd and the global reproaches
contained in the apostles' calls to conversion after Pentecost. Jesus himself,
in forgiving them on the cross, and Peter in following suit, both accept the
ignorance' of the Jews of Jerusalem and even their leaders. Still less can we
extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places, based merely
on the crowd's cry: "His blood be on us and on our children!" a formula for
ratifying a judicial sentence. As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: Neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be
charged with the crimes committed during his Passion.... The Jews should not be
spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from Holy Scripture.' All
sinners were the authors of Christ's Passion(CCC# 597).

Matthew 27:57-61 ~ The Burial of Jesus57 When it was
evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a
disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to
Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed
over. 59 Taking the body, Joseph
wrapped it in clean linen 60 and
laid it [in] his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge
stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed. 61 But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
remained sitting there, facing the tomb.

St. Mark includes the information that Joseph of Arimathea
was a member of the Sanhedrin and that the day Jesus died was Preparation Day
(Friday) for the coming Sabbath. It became the Sabbath at sundown; therefore,
Jesus' body was removed from the Cross prior to sundown in accordance with the
Law (Dt 21:22-23). Placing Jesus' body in this rich man's tomb was a
fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9 in the Septuagint translation: And I will give
the wicked for his burial, and the rich of his death; for he practiced no
iniquity, nor craft with his mouth.

The body of Christ was wrapped in a clean linen shroud which
many Christians believe is the Shroud of Turin (Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:40).
There is no mention of washing Jesus' body in any of the Gospel accounts, which
was the typical practice in a natural death (see Acts 9:37). However, not
washing Jesus' body is in accordance with Jewish customs for one who died a
violent death since the blood, which gives life, must not be removed from the
body. This is the practice in Israel today for those killed by suicide
bombers. The Shroud of Turin not only has the negative image of a man who died
from crucifixion, but the blood of the victim is on the Shroud. However, even
a victim of violent death would have his body prepared with herbs and spices,
and this was the case with Jesus' body (Jn 12:7; Lk 23:53; 19:40), and there is ample
evidence of this practice on the Shroud of Turin.

Mary Magdalene and Mary (probably) the mother of James and
Joseph, kept watch over the location of the tomb.

Saturday, Nisan
the 16th

Matthew 27:62-66 ~ Guards are placed at Jesus' Tomb62 The next day, the
one following the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees
gathered before Pilate 63 and said,
"Sir, we remember that this impostor while still alive said, After three days
I will be raised up.' 64 Give
orders, then, that the grave be secured until the third day, lest his disciples
come and steal him and say to the people, He has been raised from the dead.'
This last imposture would be worse than the first." 65 Pilate said to them, "The guard is yours; go
secure it as best you can." 66 So
they went and secured the tomb by fixing a seal to the stone and setting the
guard.

This day was the Great/High Sabbath of the holy week of the
feast of Unleavened Bread (Jn 19:31).

Question: What is ironic about the guards the members
of the council wanted placed on Jesus' tomb to prevent His disciples from
stealing His body and fostering the belief that His missing body was
resurrected?Answer: The presence of the guards and the officially
sealed tomb, which Jesus' disciples would have observed, only served as more
proof that Jesus' Resurrection was a supernatural event.

Chapter 28 ~ Jesus
Arises from the Dead

He will revive us
after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD; as certain as the dawn is his
coming, and his judgment shine forth like the light of day! He will come to us
like the fain, like spring rain that waters the earth.Hosea 6:2 (8th
century BC)

Behold, we are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief
priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over
to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised
on the third day.Jesus' third prophecy
of His Passion ~ Lk 23:53; Mathew 20:18-19

Sunday, Nisan the
17th ~ the Feast of Firstfruits~ the offering of the first fuits if the barley harvest

The LORD said to
Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you come into the land
which I am giving you, and reap your harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the
first fruits of your harvest to the priest, who shall wave the sheaf before the
LORD that it maybe acceptable for you. On the day after the Sabbath the priest
shall do this. On this day when your sheaf is waved, you shall offer to the
LORD for a holocaust an unblemished yearling lamb. Its cereal offering shall
be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, as a sweet-smelling
oblation to the LORD; and its libation shall be a fourth of a hin of wine ... This
shall be a perpetual statue for you and your descendants wherever you dwell.Lev 23:10-14

Matthew 28:1-10 ~ The Resurrection of the Christ28:1 After the
Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And
behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his
clothing was white as snow. 4 The
guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. 5 Then the angel said to the women in reply, "Do
not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised just as
he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, He has been raised
from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.'
8 Behold, I have told you." They
went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce
this to his disciples. 9 And
behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached,
embraced his feet, and did him homage. 10
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go
to Galilee, and there they will see me."

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was
dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

Question: What day of the week is it according to our
names for the days of the week?Answer: It is Sunday, the first day of the week.

The Jews only gave a name to one day of the week, and that
was the Sabbath (the other days were numbered day one, day two, etc.). The day
of Jesus' Resurrection was on the Jewish feast of Firstfruits which, according
to the Law was to fall in the day after the Sabbath of the holy week of
Unleavened Bread (Lev 23:9-13) and was designated a "perpetual" feast to be
observed for all generations (Lev 23:14). The communal sacrifice for this
feast day, in addition to each of the single Tamid lambs of the morning and
afternoon worship service, was a single unblemished male lamb that was to be
offered with unleavened bread and red wine. The morning and afternoon Tamid worship
services and the feast of Firstfruits were the only communal sacrifices that
required a single yearling male lamb offered with unleavened bread and
red wine. The date of the Jewish feast of Weeks/Pentecost was determined by
counting fifty days from the feast of Fruitsfruits. As the ancients counted,
this feast also always fell on a Sunday. Today the Church celebrates the feast
of Firstfruits as Easter Sunday and the date of the feast of Pentecost is
determined in the same way by counting fifty days, as the ancients counted,
always falling on a Sunday.(9)

Question: What other significant event occurred on
the first day of the week, which we call Sunday, in the Creation event, and
what is the connection to Resurrection Sunday? See Gen 1:1-2:3. Hint: what
was the seventh day of the Creation event?Answer: Sunday, the first day of the week, was the
first day of the Creation event and it is now the first day of the new creation
in the resurrected Christ Jesus.

The second Mary who went with Mary Magdalene is probably the
mother of James (as in Mt 27:56); Mark records that Salome also came to the
tomb Sunday morning with these two other women (Mk 16:1). St. Luke records
that those present at the tomb were Mary Magdalene, Joanna (the wife of Cuza),
Mary the mother of James, and others (Lk 24:10).

Matthew 28:2-2 ~And
behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his
clothing was white as snow.

The description of the angel is similar to other
descriptions of heavenly beings in Scripture (i.e., Dan 8:15; 10:5). This is
the fourth time Matthew has used the Greek word seismos, "earthquake."
This fourth time signifies the resurrection of Jesus as an apocalyptic event.(10)

Question: How did Jesus reward the women for their
faithfulness by staying with Him as He hung on the Cross?Answer: Before He appeared to the men, He first appeared
to His women disciples.

Matthew 28:10 ~ Then
Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

The Jesus' consoling words, "Don't be afraid" are typical of
a heavenly being (i.e., Gen 21:17; 26:24; Tobit 12:17; Lk 1:30; 2:10). Jesus
will eventually meet with the Apostles in the Galilee where their adventure
started, as He promised them in 26:32, but first He will visit with them in Jerusalem (Lk 24:36-49 and John 20:19-29).

Matthew 28:11-15 ~ The Suppression of the Testimony of
the Roman Guard11 While they were
going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that
had happened. 12 They assembled
with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the
soldiers, 13 telling them, "You are
to say, His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.' 14 And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy [him] and keep you out of trouble." 15 The soldiers took the money and did as they
were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present
[day].

Instead of recognizing the "sign" of resurrection that Jesus
promised them (Mt 13:39-40), the religious leaders conspire with the guards to
deceive the people.

Question: Why do they tell the guards that they will
protect them from Pilate?Answer: The penalty for a Roman soldier who was
caught sleeping on guard duty was death.

Matthew 28:16-20 ~ The Resurrected Christ gives the Great
Commission 16 The eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but they
doubted. 18 Then Jesus approached
and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until
the end of the age."

In Matthew 28:7 when the women disciples discovered the empty tomb, the angel of God told
them to go and tell the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead and "now he is going ahead of you to the Galilee; that is where you will see him."
They meet Him at the Galilee by the sea (Jn 21:1-23) where Jesus begins His instructions to
them that will last for forty days as He appears and disappears to His faithful.
It is at the meeting at the Sea of Galilee/Sea of Tiberius that He gives Peter and the disciples their "marching orders" in establishing His Kingdom of the Church.

Question: What is the scope of the mission Jesus has
given His disciples in every generation? See Dan 7:13-14; Jn 20:21-23 and CCC
730.Answer: The mission is universal for the emissaries
of the One who has universal power over all the earth. From the time of Jesus'
Resurrection, the mission of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit becomes the
mission of the Church, as Jesus told the Apostles in John 20:19b ~ As the
Father has sent me, so I send you.

Question: What is the significance of the command to
baptize with the formula: "In the name of the Father, and of he Son, and of the
holy Spirit"? See Jn 3:3-5 and CCC 1257, 1272-3.Answer: Rebirth through water and the spirit in Christian
baptism is the means Jesus has given for entrance into the community of the New
Covenant. In the Sacrament of Baptism, the baptized person is configured to the
risen Savior and incorporated into the Body of Christ which is His Church. The
formula Jesus gives for the Sacrament of Baptism defines the Trinity and
designates baptism as the union of the one baptized with the life of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The union of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is
the central mystery of Christian faith. Indeed, the faith of all who call
themselves Christians rests on belief in the union of the Most Holy Trinity
(CCC 232-34, 237).

Do not miss that baptism is linked to teaching the newly
baptized to observe "all that I have commanded you." Simply acknowledging
Christ is not enough and the old Law no longer defines righteousness "it is the
Gospel of salvation preached in the New Law that defines the path of salvation
for Christians.

Question: How is Jesus' promise And behold, I am
with you always, until the end of the age a fulfillment of Matthew 1:23 and
Isaiah 7:14? Also see CCC 1374-77.Answer: The name Emmanuel means "God with us," which
is what Jesus promises His faithful. It is also the promise of His real but
invisible presence in the Eucharist from the time of His Ascension until His
return at the end of the Age of Man.

Jesus' promise reminds the faithful that we do not have to struggle through life alone,
relying on our own strength, as St. John Chrysostom wrote: Do I dare to try to rely on my own strength?
I have his written word in my hands. It is my staff, my security, and my safe harbor.
Though the whole world be turned on its head, I read the word that I carry with me always
because it is my wall and my defense. What is this written word? "I am with your always, even to the end of the world"
(Sermo antequam iret in exilium, 2). The post-Resurrection Jesus used similar words to encourage St. Paul
when He told His servant in a vision: Be fearless, speak out and do not keep silence: I am with you (Acts 18:9-10a, emphasis added).
And Jesus' words of assurance may have inspired the writer of Hebrews when he wrote: God himself has said: I shall not fail you or desert you,
and so we can say with confidence: With the Lord on my side, I fear nothing: what can human beings do to me? (Heb 13:5-6).

Jesus will teach the Church for forty days prior to His
Ascension to the Father (Acts 1:3), appearing and disappearing at will. During
the time between His Resurrection and Ascension, He continually visited with
His Apostles and disciples:

He appeared to the group of women disciples who had gone
to His tomb on Resurrection Sunday (Mt 28:9-10).

He appeared one final time to the Apostles and disciples
on the Mt. of Olives, from where He ascended to the Father (Mk 16:19; Lk 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-12).

In His death and resurrection, Jesus has ushered in a new
and everlasting covenant that fulfills and surpasses all previous covenants
(see the chart "Yahweh's Eight Covenants"):

Old Covenants

Fulfilled in Christ

1. The covenant with Adam

Jesus is the "new Adam" who has atoned for the sin of the
first Adam, conquering sin and death and bringing forth His Bride, the
Church, from His pierced side as Eve was born from the side of Adam (Rom
5:14-21; 1 Cor 15:20-45; CCC 359, 411, 504, 766).

2. The covenant with Noah

Jesus' gift of the Sacrament of baptism has restored man,
through water and the Spirit to renewed life (Jn 3:3, 5; 1 Pt 3:21, CCC 628,
1094).

3. The three-fold Abrahamic covenant:

a kingdom

numerous descendants

a world-wide blessing.

Jesus has fulfilled the three promises made to Abraham
(CCC 59, 706, 762-66):

He has established a great kingdom in the Church—the Kingdom of Heaven on earth (Acts 1:3).

He has filled His kingdom with men and woman of every
age who have accepted His gift of eternal salvation and who are the
spiritual children of Abraham (Rom 9:6-8; Gal 3:29).

As Abraham's descendant, Jesus has brought a world-wide
blessing through His universal covenant that is open to men and women of
all nations (Gal 3:8).

4. The Covenant at Sinai

Jesus has fulfilled all the blood rituals and purification
rituals of the old Law in His one perfect sacrifice on the altar of the
Cross, having made atonement for the sins of man and offering continual
purification through the Eucharist and the other Sacraments of His Church
(Heb 9:15-28; CCC 577-582). In His self-sacrifice and fulfillment of the
Sinai Covenant, Jesus has freed God's people from the curse of failing to
keep the old Law (Dt 28:15; Rom 3:21-26; Gal 3:13-14).

5. The Aaronic Covenant of a ministerial priesthood

Jesus has established the New Covenant priesthood: A
universal priesthood of all believers and a ministerial priesthood that is no
longer based on heredity but on the call of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19-20; CCC
1141-43).

6. The Perpetual Priesthood of Phinehas

Jesus Christ is the eternal High Priest of the New and
Everlasting Covenant (Heb 4:14-15; 8:1-3; CCC 1137).

7. The Davidic Covenant

God's promise to David that his throne would endure
forever is fulfilled in Christ who is the heir of David and the King of the Universal Church (Lk 1:32-33; Heb 1:1-4; CCC 786, 2105).

Questions for group discussion:Question: What has Christ's death merited for us?
See CCC 613-618.

Question: When did the Apostles and disciples take
the 4th Cup and when do we willing submit our selves to God and take
up the 4th Cup of Acceptance? See Mt 10:38; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23; 14:27
and CCC 2015.Answer: All New Covenant believers, past, present,
and future take the 4th Cup of Acceptance when, in obedience to the
will of God, we follow His commandment to take up our own crosses and follow
the Savior: The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no
holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle (CCC # 2015).

Matthew 10:38 ~ ...anyone who does not take his cross and follow
in my footsteps is not worthy of me. (also see Mt 16:24).

Mark 8:34 ~ If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him
renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Luke 9:23 ~ Then he said to al, "If anyone wishes to come
after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me

Luke 14:27 ~ No one who does not carry his cross and come after
me can be my disciple.

You will recall that in Matthew 20:20-23 Jesus asked James
and John Zebedee: Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? When
they replied that they could, Jesus' response which must have been given with much
tenderness was: Very well; you shall drink my cup.... The brothers did
indeed drink the cup of suffering in faith and obedience. James was martyred
about the year 42 AD and John valiantly "carried his cross" for Christ until
his death when he was a very old man. St. Polycarp, disciple of the beloved St. John, who was Bishop of Smyrna (one of the seven churches in Revelation) spoke of this
same "cup" when facing martyrdom in his 86th year. He prayed: O
Lord God almighty, the Father of Your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by
whom we have received the knowledge of You, the God of angels and powers, and
of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before You,
I give you thanks that You have counted me worthy of this day and this hour,
that I should be counted in the number of Your martyrs, in the cup of your
Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life ... (Jurgens, The Fathers
of the Church, vol. I, page 73; emphasis added).

But we also take up the Cup of Acceptance in the Eucharistic
cup of the blood of Christ. In the Eucharist we actively live out of the bond
of covenant fidelity that we have sworn from the time of our Christian baptism and
which is completed in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Endnotes:

1. It is assumed that Simon of Cyrene became a believer in
Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Mark names his two sons, Alexander and
Rufus, who were presumably well-known members of Mark's Christian
community (Mk 14:21). Cyrenian Christians were important members of the
Christian community in Antioch (Syria). Some of the Cyrenians were among
the first to preach to the Gentiles in Antioch (Acts 11:20) and Lucius of
Cyrene was listed as a prophet or teacher at Antioch (Acts 13:1).

2. At the time of Jesus' crucifixion, Golgotha was located
outside the walls of the holy city of Jerusalem. It was forbidden to
contaminate the sanctity of the holy city by the presence of the dead.
Therefore no one could be buried or executed inside the walls of Jerusalem, which was considered to be "the camp of God" (Leviticus 24:14-23). In the years
that followed Jesus' crucifixion and the subsequent destruction of the
city walls in 70 AD, new walls were built that expanded the size of the
city. The current city walls were built in the 16th century AD
by order of the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent. Today the Crucifixion
site and the tomb of Jesus are enclosed within the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher. It is a church that was originally constructed in the 4th
century AD after Queen Helena, the mother of the first Christian Roman
Emperor, had visited Jerusalem and with the help the Bishop of Jerusalem
identified the sites of Jesus' birth, death and burial. During the course
of Jerusalem's turbulent history, the church was destroyed and rebuilt
several times.

3. It has long been a Christian tradition that Golgotha was Adam's burial site. This is an ancient tradition dating back as far as the 3rd
century AD Christian biblical scholar, Origen and St. Ephraim the Syrian
(4th century AD). St. Jerome (the 4th century AD) rejected
this story as mere legend. However, St. John Chrysostom, the 4th
century Bishop of Constantinople who was born in Antioch, the home church of Sts. Paul and Barnabas wrote: And He came to the place of a skull.' Some
say that Adam died there, and there lieth; and that Jesus in this place
where death had reigned, there also set up the trophy. For He went forth
bearing the cross as a trophy over the tyranny of death; and as conquerors
do, so he bare upon His shoulders the symbol of victory" (Homilies
on the Gospel of John, LXXXV.1, St. John Chrysostom).If you
visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, below the site of Jesus'
crucifixion, you will be shown a large rock streaked with red, and you
will be told that this small cave was Adam's tomb and the blood of Christ
dripped from above on to Adam's bones so that he too could be redeemed
from his sins.

4. According to legend and tradition, in the 330's AD Queen
Helena, the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine the
Great, claimed to have rediscovered the true cross of the Crucifixion, as
well as the crosses of the two robbers, and the titulus that hung over
Jesus' head. The crossbeam of one of the robber's cross, a fragment of
the true cross, and the titulus were taken back to her palace in Rome. Through the misadventures of time, the location of the titulus was lost. Queen
Helena's palace became the Church of the Holy Cross [Santa Croce]
in Rome. But during a renovation of the church in the Middle Ages, the
titulus was rediscovered hidden in a recess in one of the walls in the
Sanctuary where it can be seen on display today. Only a potion of the
titulus survives. An analysis of the titulus has revealed:

It is made of a type of walnut that was common in the Near East.

It measures 25.3 centimeters by 14 centimeters at its widest points and is 2.6 centimeters thick.

The wood was originally painted white (this conforms to the Roman practice of whitening a publicly displayed plaque).

The letters carved into the wood show traces of what appears to be very dark red coloring which has darkened with age to black in some areas (emphasizing the carved letters with red or black paint was a Roman practice).

There are three lines of writing in Hebrew (or possible Aramaic,
not enough of the plaque survives to be certain which language), Greek and
Latin. All three language fragments are written from right to left.
Writing from right to left was the standard practice for Hebrew, but it was
very unusual for Greek and Latin. This extremely peculiar detail attests to
the artifact's authenticity since a forger would not risk creating the titulus
with in such an unconventional style for fear that it would be called a
forgery. The inscriptions also do not agree with the order of languages
recorded in John 19:20, a detail a forger would be unlikely to alter. For
additional information see the Gospel of John Study, lesson 19 part II.

5. During a full moon the earth is between the moon and the
sun. A full solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth
and the sun with the moon blocking the sun's light on that portion of the
earth in the shadow of the moon as the moon's disk fully covers the sun.
In the cycles of the moon, it is the new moon that passes between the
earth and the sun and as the moon progresses in its cycle; the full moon
is on the opposite side of the earth, with the earth between the sun and
the moon (with the moon reflecting the sun's light). Therefore, it is
impossible to have a solar eclipse during a full moon cycle, as it was on
the 15th of Nisan in 30 AD. Lunar eclipses occur when the
earth is between the moon and the sun, but lunar eclipses are only partial
eclipses. The description of total darkness in the Gospel accounts is the
darkness of a solar eclipse (Goldsmith, The Astronomers, page 294).
Dionysius the Areopagite claimed to be an eyewitness observer of the
eclipse from the city of Heliopolis at the time of Christ's crucifixion. Julius
Africanus quoted a pagan Roman scholar named Phlegon who wrote a history
in the 2nd century AD in which he commented on the rare
phenomenon at the time of Christ's crucifixion during a full moon cycle,
attributing the event to a solar eclipse: During the time of Tiberius
Caesar an eclipse of the sun occurred during the full moon (Julius
Africanus, Chronography, 18.1). The third century AD, Christian
scholar and apologist Origen also referred to Phlegon's comments on the
total eclipse event that defied nature (Celsum, 2.14, 33, 59) as
did the sixth century writer Philopon (De.opif.mund. II, 21), and
Roman lawyer turned Christian priest Tertullian (c. 155-240 AD) challenged
doubters to go and see the evidence recorded in the Roman achieves
concerning the unexplained eclipse during the crucifixion of Jesus of
Nazareth.

6. The only other time the complete term Arnion Hestekos
is found is in Rev 14:1 when St. John sees the Arnion Hestekos as
Christ the King on Mount Zion: Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing
[Arnion Hestekos] on Mt. Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four
thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads
It is a vision that is the fulfillment of Psalms 2:6: I myself have
anointed my king on Zion my holy mountain ...

7. St. Augustine, St. Jerome and St. Thomas Aquinas leaned
toward the interpretation that these were dead holy men and women who
arose in the way Lazarus did, and then died again later. They embraced
this interpretation because they felt it best supported the testimony of
Sacred Scripture and did not lead to theological difficulties (see St.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, III, question 53, a3). This is
also the interpretation proposed by the Catechism of St. Pius V, 1.6.9.

8. It is believed that the Jewess Mary of Jerusalem was married
to a Roman. Her son, John, surnamed Mark (a Roman name), traveled with St. Paul and his kinsman St. Barnabas, became Peter's secretary in Rome, wrote the second
Gospel that bears his name, and founded the Church in Alexandria, Egypt.

9. Today most Jews no longer celebrate Firstfruits on the day
after the Sabbath of the holy week of Passover. Instead they have moved
the day to Nisan the 16th which means the day of the week
changes with every year. Only the Kararite Jews and the Samaritans keep
the traditional day on the Sunday of the holy week of Passover/Unleavened
Bread and celebrate Weeks/Pentecost fifty days later on a Sunday. The
feast was known by its Greek name "Pentecost" (50th day) in the
1st century AD. Josephus records that the days of the feasts
were changed sometime in the 1st century AD (Antiquities of
the Jews, 13.8.4 [252]).

10. The first time was in the great storm that Jesus stilled
(Mt 8:24); the next time was in His apocalyptic discourse (Mt 24:7); the
third time was in the resurrection of the holy ones (Mt 27:54); and His
resurrection is the fourth earthquake.